


much warmth and only a little smoke

by Ashling



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Happily Ever After (As Much As One Can), Missandei (GoT) Lives, Missandei/Daenerys if you squint, barely any plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 12:30:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashling/pseuds/Ashling
Summary: To say it was as if no time had passed between them would be lying. But they still are who they have always been.Missandei & Grey Worm take their son to visit an old friend.





	much warmth and only a little smoke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lastwingedthing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastwingedthing/gifts).

> I liked your letter, lastwingedthing! And I hope this at least partially satisfied the two contradictory desires you mentioned. <3

Missandei gave her husband a reproving look. She said nothing, but the look said: _stop going still and stiff. You’re frightening our son._

Torgo was indeed looking a little cowed. It didn’t show in his face, but he was neither running nor talking, which was rare for him. Instead he was toying with his wooden box, shifting it from left hand to right and back again, without looking at it.

Grey Worm replied by looking around him. The room itself was by their standards a very good one; it had a large fireplace and multiple bookcases and an intricately carved desk. But by the standards of the Queen’s castle, it was ominously small and unimportant. _By King’s Landing standards, this may as well be a cell._

_It’s not a cell. Don’t be so dramatic._ Missandei gave him one last exasperated glance, then patted her son’s shoulder.

“Cheer up,” she said brightly. “Your Aunt Daenerys has been waiting for so long to see you.”

“I’m just tired from the travel,” said Torgo, who could be very stubborn in trying to hide his thoughts, though with significantly less success than either his father mother had when they put their minds to it.

“She’ll love you. We’re good friends.”

“Were good friends,” said Grey Worm.

Missandei ignored that, pointedly. “Look at where we are. If we were normal people, we would have to petition her on a court day, or if we were nobles, we would have to approach her in council. But since we’re friends, she doesn’t want to meet us in public, where they’d have to announce her to us as Daenerys of House Targaryen, First of Her Name, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons, and all that. Right? When you go play with Linny, it’s much more fun to play with just you two. It’s less fun if you meet at a wedding or something, where you have to be proper in front of everyone else.”

“I liked Sallan’s wedding, though. I put dozens of candied lime slices in my pocket and Limmy and I ate them for weeks after.”

“Torgo, that’s stealing!” Missandei looked to her husband for backup, but contrariwise, it was at that exact moment that he unsuccessfully smothered a smile. His smile lit hers, and then she had to try and smother hers too.

Luckily, Torgo didn’t notice. He was too busy protesting. “They were there for people to take and eat, so I took them and I ate them! We never have candied limes at home!”

A new voice, warm and amused: “You can have your own weight in candied limes, if you like.”

“Daenerys!” Missandei ran the final few steps to her and thudded firmly into a hug. She closed her eyes. Daenerys smelled faintly of flowers and steelworks. Gardens and a smithy, in other words, and this only midmorning. Busy woman. Busy queen, to be exact.

Daenerys held on for a long time. Missandei could hear her saying “Torgo Nudho” over Missandei’s shoulder, and Grey Worm replying, “My Queen.” Two words on both sides, but oh, so many things within them. Things weren’t the same, and never could be again. For a moment, Missandei felt that as a loss only. Then Daenerys let go, and knelt.

“My Queen,” said Torgo. And then smiled brightly. He was a cheerful boy, and he counted Daenerys’s interruption of his interrogation as a good stroke of luck. Also, his mother had told him that the Queen would like him, and as usual, his mother was right.

“How old are you, Torgo?”

“One hundred and thirty-seven moons.”

“Oh.”

“He means eleven years,” said Missandei dryly, “but he thinks it sounds more impressive that way.”

Daenerys dimpled. “It rather does, I think.”

“It’s a lot of moons,” said Torgo. And then, affecting an imitation of his father, “I have seen many things.”

To Daenerys’s credit, she did not smile at this, but instead said, evenly “Well, have you ever seen a dragon?”

“Yes,” said Torgo. “There was one flaming some town south of the road we were traveling.” His voice grew firm. “But I wasn’t scared.”

“Of course not,” said Daenerys. She wasn’t smiling, and her voice, though warm, was quiet. Maybe tired. “A warrior in training like you.”

“Yes! Though Mother wants me to be a farmer.”

“We’re still discussing it,” said Missandei wryly.

“I’m glad you weren’t scared,” said Daenerys, “because dragons are nothing to be afraid of. Only treacherous and wicked people need to fear my dragons.”

“What about other dragons?”

“There aren’t any.”

Torgo was feeling rather out of his depth, but he didn’t like to show it. “That’s good,” he said.

Daenerys smiled, and it was like the sun breaking. “It’s very good,” she agreed. “Tomorrow you can ride one with me. But for now…” She straightened. “I need to go attend to some Queen’s business. Can I borrow your mother? She’s very good at it.”

Torgo considered this for a minute. “All right,” he finally decided.

“Thank you.” And then, to Grey Worm: “There is a maid just outside this door who would be pleased to show you and your son to a room where you can rest and eat after your long journey.”

“What about you?” he said to Missandei.

“I’m not hungry,” she replied at once.

When the door closed again, Daenerys sat down behind the desk, reached into a drawer, and produced something small and white. She tossed it to Missandei, who discovered it was a chunk of hard cheese, pulled up a chair, and began to eat.

“From the fires we saw on the way here, I take it the Tullys have been adequately reprimanded,” she said.

“It’s not certain yet,” said Daenerys, “but yes, I think so. You know we don’t have to talk about it. I only said ‘Queen’s business’ to get the room to ourselves. Is Grey Worm angry with me now?”

Missandei sighed. “No, he’s just afraid of you.”

“But I wouldn’t ever harm him or you or your child. Or ever let anyone else do it. He has to know that. He should know that.”

“He does. He just doesn’t trust this city. And he still thinks I’m going to get intoxicated by the crown all over again, and ask to stay here with you as an advisor.”

Daenerys eyed her. “And you’re not going to do that?”

“Ever since we adopted him, my son has witnessed violent death only once. Do you know how difficult it is to accomplish that? Even in Naath? The logistics of armies is nothing to it.”

For a moment, Missandei could see Daenerys putting her next words together, carefully. It was sweet, but it also hurt a little.

“You’ve never failed anyone you loved. I’m certain you won’t do it now.”

“Thank you, my Queen.”

They looked at each other a long while, both fond. At last, Daenerys said, “So things are good with you?”

“They are. The last battle I had was an argument with Grey Worm over whether or not Torgo should have spear training. And then afterwards he made it up to me in ways I couldn’t discuss in front of a septa. I’ve started a public library, I’m on the provincial council, and my ginger-flowers are the best in the city. You?”

“I’m Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, I’ll be Queen until I die, and my word is law.”

“So things are good with you.”

“Yes. Of course. But I am glad you’re here.”

“As am I. So, what shall we start with? Court intrigue? Dothraki relations? I hear that you’re proposing an increased tax on the import of lumber and metals.”

“Certain factions of the merchant’s guild need to be taught a lesson, and I need the money for road-building besides. But, Missandei, I invited you to show off and feed you and see the child, not to make you work. You don’t need to advise me.”

“Tell a fish not to swim.”

Daenerys smiled. Missandei smiled back.


End file.
